Cheater plug battery charging question

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j9anddrdlovetocamp

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Feb 15, 2013
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Does using a cheater plug to charge the RV's batteries create any problems other than heat through the connection?  Does it charge at a lower rate and take longer than a "true" RV connection would?  Does it cause any long term problems with the wiring (on both sides of the connection)? 

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
I'll echo Ned's question, but if a "cheater plug" has anything to do with making your shore power connection, the answer is No. The battery charger doesn't care where the 120v power comes from, as long as it is there.
 
What I mean by cheater plug is a  120V 15 amp to 30 amp adapter for use with a regular house receptacle.  Thanks for the quick replies!
 

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That, is an Adapter, not a cheater, Cheater implies something else in the RV world.

But to answer your question: IF the only thing you have on is the converter,, Then when using one of those adapter plugs you will get one of three things.

No small extension cord: You get either normal battery charging or, if the converter is big enough you might get "The click of darkness" (Trip a 15 amp breaker)  I have a Progressive Dynamics 9280, with wizard, that is a fairly large converter, it's on a 15 amp breaker no problems.

But be careful of additional loads.

If you have a long small (say 14 ga) 15 amp cord,, You may see reduced voltage at the RV and that could affect converter operation

So your options are

Normal operation
Tripped breaker

Reduced due to voltage drop in the small extension cord.

HOWEVER, if the cord is that long, please upgrade it.  My long cord is 12ga and it does NOT affect charging at all. (100')
 
j9anddrdlovetocamp said:
Does using a cheater plug to charge the RV's batteries create any problems other than heat through the connection?  Does it charge at a lower rate and take longer than a "true" RV connection would?  Does it cause any long term problems with the wiring (on both sides of the connection)? 

No, they work fine for that.

Problems arise when trying to run the air conditioner or other large loads.
 
Most of those adapter plugs cannot, in fact, handle a continuous 15 amp load. The tend to melt down even at a steady 12-13 amps. Part of the problem is that a 15 amp rating is a peak rating and the device is actually tested to a sustained load of 80% of the peak rating (12 amps in this case).

The type of adapter that has a short length of wire between the male and female ends will generally hold up better - the two heat sources are separated a bit and can dissipate heat better. They also fit better in some outlet boxes.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/15-amp-male-to-30-amp-female-adapter/57719
 
Keep in mind that 1 amp at 120 volts is equivalent to 10 amps at 12 volts.  By the time you include the converter efficiency the difference is more like about 1 to 8.  But the point is you won't exceed the adapter or circuit capacity unless you're moving a LOT of current into the batteries.

The other factor is the AC voltage supplied to the RV.  Low AC voltage coming from a small extension cord will reduce the charging rate from an old style transformer based converter.  But modern switching power supply converters will work fine with whatever voltage you can reasonably supply to them.
 
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